J1772 charging question

I am a new S owner and I have never charged it with anything but the superchargers and the charger that came with it. In a month I have to take a long trip where they only have 5 J1772 chargers. I have never used them before. I have read these forums and I know you have to use the adapter and they are relatively slow (about 18 mph). Is there anything else I should know? Should I try to find one locally before I go to make sure the adapter works and I won't have an issue?

I have a chargepoint card but these are free chargers with no network.

The J1772 chargers will give you about 40A, which equates to about 22-24 mi/h.

I've used Blink and ChargePoint chargers and they work brilliantly.

Just remember to plug in the adapter before connecting the charging cable, and remember to take it out of the port, or off the cable when you are done.

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Perhaps you found one with 40A output, but the vast majority of J1772s in the US have only 30A output for 18 miles/hr of range as the OP said. I'd estimate more than 90% of them are 30A. That's what the stimulus program paid for and its the most a Volt or Leaf can take.

I am a new S owner and I have never charged it with anything but the superchargers and the charger that came with it. In a month I have to take a long trip where they only have 5 J1772 chargers. I have never used them before. I have read these forums and I know you have to use the adapter and they are relatively slow (about 18 mph). Is there anything else I should know? Should I try to find one locally before I go to make sure the adapter works and I won't have an issue?

I have a chargepoint card but these are free chargers with no network.

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I have never encountered a L2 charger that gave me more than 18 mph. have a backup plan in case the chargers are inoperative or ICED. The adapter will work and you should have the chargepoint card because you will need it to begin the charging session regardless of the unit being free or it costs $ to use. you could call an 800 # but that is time consuming.

Testing a local charger would be wise if it's not too hard. The J1772 adapter is a simple device, it just passively connects the pins on one side to the pins on the other side, but there's always the possibility for something to be broken. It's unlikely, but if you can test it ahead of time you might as well.

Have you checked PlugShare to see what (if any) information they have on the chargers you plan to use? They often have good info, including general reliability and typical charge speeds.

Charge speeds can vary a lot. As others have said, 30A is pretty typical. Voltage can be anywhere from 240V down to under 200V. A lot of public chargers are on three-phase power which officially provides 208V, and sometimes they're on long/bad wiring runs which cause significant voltage drop. Some drop enough to cause the car to drop the amps as a precaution, too. The worst I've personally seen was a 30A charger which the car dropped to 22A, and which supplied something like 188V. This gave me about 14MPH charging. The best I've seen was 70A at 240V, although I don't have dual chargers so I could only use 40A.

(Strictly speaking, I did encounter one J1772 charger that was plugged into a 120V outlet, and so gave me about 3MPH. I don't know if that's really worth counting, though. Fortunately it was right next to a 240V/30A unit.)

Note that to estimate MPH of charge from the volts and amps, multiply V times A and then divide by 300. For example, 22*188 = 4136, divide by 300 and you get about 13.8MPH.

As a general rule I have found Whole Foods to be very slow, often as little as 10 Amps. On the other hand corporate, non-retail and municipal J1772 have usually been much faster. One I often use, in a hotel, delivers 32 amps reliability. Most hotels seem to have pretty fast J1772. FWIW, Tesla Destnation Chargers are being deployed very quickly. I recommend keeping up to the minute because sometimes points open with no prior warning.

Perhaps you found one with 40A output, but the vast majority of J1772s in the US have only 30A output for 18 miles/hr of range as the OP said. I'd estimate more than 90% of them are 30A. That's what the stimulus program paid for and its the most a Volt or Leaf can take.

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Come to my office in San Luis Obispo, on Plugshare 80A J1772 56 MPH +. free for TMC members during business hours.

Thanks for the all the info. It is on a university campus and it will be at a time when the undergrads are not, so iceing will not be an issue. I have checked plugshare, and the reports have been good showing 30 amps and 210 volts. There are also 5 stations in 2 locations (3 in one, 2 in the other). Also, I am there a week so if they are iced for a day, not a big deal. Note these are not chargepoint or blink stations, they are just free J1772 chargers. I was more worried about a hardware issue, like a faulty adapter or if anyone has had bugs with these types of chargers and compatability, like the ChaDemo chargers (forgive the spelling).

I've never heard of compatibility being a problem with these. J1772 is a very simple protocol where the external hardware doesn't have a whole lot to do. It tells the car how many amps it can draw with a really simple digital signaling scheme, and then the car draws what it wants up to that limit. The electricity is passed through directly from the supply once the car begins drawing power. CHAdeMO has a complex communication protocol and the external hardware handles AC/DC conversion so there's a lot more that can go wrong there.

Nobody has mentioned how to use the actual J1772 adapter yet. Here's the method that works the best...

When plugging in, take the adapter and insert into the J1772 plug. Now take the whole assembly and insert into the car. The car will detect the cable and start charging.

When unplugging, you need to be careful. Press AND HOLD the button on the J1772 plug. Wait until you hear the click from the Tesla port unlocking the adapter. While still pressing the button, grab the adapter and pull out with the J1772 plug. DO NOT leave the adapter in the charging port. Once the assembly is removed from the car, you can remove the adapter.

Give it a try on a nearby public charger. You don't even need to pay if you just want to practice using the adapter.

All good advice. I use J plugs occasionally. I also have a 2014 model, so maybe things have changed in two years.

I open the charge port door from the touchscreen. I then attach the adapter to the J-plug and insert into the charge port with both hands. I think that the charge port is receptive to a plug for about a minute or so, as a time or two I could not insert the plug quickly enough. (The cable was tangled and twisted, if I recall correctly.) So, I had to "open charge port" again.

Removal--again I use both hands to remove the plug and the adapter in one motion. I then detach the adapter and rewind the charging cable and replace the J-plug in its receptacle.

I generally stop charging from the touchscreen. I think if your car completes charging on its own and shuts off, you have to "unlock charge port" in order to remove both the adapter and the J-plug.

Probably the only other advice I can give is that even though these chargers are not likely to be used much if at all, it does not hurt to get into the habit of moving your car once you have attained the level of charge that you desire.

All good advice. I use J plugs occasionally. I also have a 2014 model, so maybe things have changed in two years.

I open the charge port door from the touchscreen. I then attach the adapter to the J-plug and insert into the charge port with both hands. I think that the charge port is receptive to a plug for about a minute or so, as a time or two I could not insert the plug quickly enough. (The cable was tangled and twisted, if I recall correctly.) So, I had to "open charge port" again.

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I use J1772 charge stations about twice a week and used to do it this way. But because if I wait too long to get the adapter and plug in place the port will lock, I now just place the adapter in the charge port as soon as I get out of the car. (The J1772 locking tab on the adapter goes "up".) Then I can take my time getting the J1772 handle and cable arranged and plugged-in. No hurry.

I use J1772 charge stations about twice a week and used to do it this way. But because if I wait too long to get the adapter and plug in place the port will lock, I now just place the adapter in the charge port as soon as I get out of the car. (The J1772 locking tab on the adapter goes "up".) Then I can take my time getting the J1772 handle and cable arranged and plugged-in. No hurry.

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Thanks! I will try to remember this tidbit the next time I use a J-plug--probably in another six months.

Thanks! I will try to remember this tidbit the next time I use a J-plug--probably in another six months.

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My current trip notwithstanding (used a Chargepoint L2 in Kirkland WA yesterday because there are no Superchargers in the Seattle area) the reason I use the L2 charge stations at home is so that people see them getting used. The cities went to considerable trouble and expense to install the public charge stations and PEVs are still rare in my remote part of Colorado so I view using them as educating the public about the existence of EVs. And I know the people behind the charge station installations appreciate it because I have spoken with them.

So, no, I don't really need to use J1772 plugs to get around; even a 50% charge is plenty for my daily driving.